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John Yeo (1841–1918, son of William Yeo and Mary Routley) [note 1] grew up at at Bradford in north Devon. He was educated at John Tuke’s boarding school and at Shebbear College, and worked briefly for a draper in Bideford before moving to London to join one of the largest drapery firms there – Spencer, Turner and Boldero. After his apprenticeship he worked for a time in Paris.
It was during his time in London that John Yeo met his future wife Julia Longley. They married there in 1873 and moved to Plymouth. John became a partner in the drapery business at 38 Bedford Street owned by Joseph Pillman, which was renamed John Yeo & Company in 1878. The firm occupied prominent premises in the centre of Plymouth for many years, during which time John Yeo served two terms as Lord Mayor of Plymouth.
John and Julia had seven children:
– Herbert John Yeo (1874–1879)
– Charles Stanley Yeo (1875–1876)
– Ernest Hedley Yeo (1876–1880)
– Edith Margaret Yeo (1877–1950, married Frank Steane Price in Plymouth in 1901)
– Lilian Julia Yeo (1878–1977, married William Cadman in Plymouth in 1918)
– Kathleen Mary Yeo (1880–1886)
– Frank Russell Yeo (see below).
Frank Russell Yeo (1881–1936, son of John Yeo and Julia Longley) married Evelyn Mary Kateley at St Andrew, Plymouth in 1914. They had two sons and a daughter:
– Colin John Russell Yeo (1915–2004, married Pamela Sheriff Hussey) [note 2]
– Michael Thomas Russell Yeo (1920–1943, see War deaths)
– Jennifer Nancy Russell Yeo (1923–2003).
Notes
1. Some researchers have confused John with another John Yeo, born at St Austell ten years earlier, who also moved to Plymouth. See John Yeo and Charlotte Widger.
2. Colin Yeo, a career soldier, was a prisoner-of-war in Germany from 1940 to 1945. From 1965, with the rank of Brigadier, he commanded the British contingent of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
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